We have come a long way this month, as we are to meet some good friends. We leave the Camargue area of the south of France and sail to Barcelona in Spain. Along the way, we meet some new friends. This month sees Stargazer being taken out of the water for a month.
SPAIN, HERE WE COME!
AUGUST 2003
Friday August 1 2003, Port Gardian to Narbonne, 60NM, 0 euros (a free night!)
The weather seems okay today as we wake rather later than we wanted, so we slip our berth at 8:30am, just after Anna II.
Our Danish friends are off to Port Vendres, which is 80 miles away. The sea is flat, and there is a nice wind. Perfect, we sail as much as we can, then put the engine on after Camargue.
As we near Sete, our intended destination, we decide to go further; the sea and the wind are in our favour, so we will try to make Cap d’Agde, which is another 10 miles, so 40 in total.
We begin to sail well at a comfortable 5.5 kn. As we near Cap d’Adge, we question whether we should push on for Narbonne; we would arrive at 8 pm, almost 12 hours at sea. Surely we would be mad, 12 hours sailing and 60 miles, but hey, what the hell, the weather is holding good, so why not.
We sail the rest of the way, even through a near fishing pot flag disaster as they loom out of nowhere in their 10s. There are lots of flags bobbing about here that mark lobster and crab pots, and if you are not careful, you can wrap the line around your prop. Some are marked properly with flags, others are marked badly with old plastic bottles. Narbonne is in the distance, not too far now. We drop our sails at the entrance and motor in. It’s very shallow here; we have a 0.1 m reading on the depth log, so we try again. It’s shallow everywhere. We get in, just, with a reading of 0 m inside the mole. We actually have a 50 cm offset, but that is close enough.
We get in, and the berth is posts to attach to, just what we have been dreading, but it’s okay as there’s no wind.
(Some of the mooring that we have been doing has been side on, a finger pontoon, very easy if the wind is in your favour. Other, more common, moorings have been ‘Med moorings’. This requires you to reverse into a wall while picking up a line in the water that you connect to the bow, stopping you. Once in, you tie the back of the boat with two lines to the wall. H does the steering, and Del does the leaping about the boat, securing lines and setting fenders. It works. We are a good team. Sometimes.)
We have a delicious spag bol, and then wash the boat. Time we stretched our legs so we have a walk around the local area, then it’s off to bed. We are exhausted, but it’s been a good day. 60 miles!
When flushing the loo tonight, we get phosphorescence, little specs of bright green marine organisms whizzing around the bowl and up the pipes!
Saturday 2nd August 2003, Narbonne to Port Vendres 38 NM, 24 euros
There is little wind today as we leave and brave the shallows of the entrance again. The sea is like a lake. Amazingly, it’s the same water that a few days ago was moderate and bumpy, and gave us a rough, soggy ride
It’s Saturday, and there are quite a few boats near shore, but there are only one or two near us, so not too much wake. We are heading due south and a couple of miles from shore. We would like to sail, but there’s not quite enough wind. We must keep at 5 knots to keep the journey to a manageable eight hours, so it’s on with the motor again.
It gets rather busy with boats as we near Port Vendres, which seems to be cut into the rock. The marina is very protected and lined with restaurants, a bit like Cassis.
We treat ourselves to a fish dinner tonight. I have calamari, and Del has Dorada.
There is an English boat next door to us in the marina, and they have a cat on board, a black-and-white moggie called Jack. Very sweet. The guy is from Cheadle Hulme. It’s a small world. They will now be called “Jack the cat’s boat”, as we don’t know the names of anyone else in the boat.
Sunday 3rd August 2003 Port Vendres to Llanca 10NM, 39 euros
FRANCE TO SPAIN
We set off at about 9:30 this morning with our new shiny, unused Spanish courtesy flag at the ready.
We are going to sail to Llanca, which has been a bit of a dream of ours as we used to visit there on holiday and sit watching the boats come in.
We try to sail on a broad reach but aren’t getting anywhere very fast, so we take in the genoa sail and motor the rest of the way. It’s very busy with other boats around here, but finally, we reach Llanca. We’ve never seen it from this angle before, but we recognise it immediately. We pick up some diesel first before heading to our allotted berth.
The channel into the marina is like the M25, with boats coming in and out all the time.
There are a few cats near our boat, so after a nice “kit pizza”, we tempt them with a tin of cat food that we just happen to have on board. (Don’t ask). They love it. Even though they already have food that is brought in for them by a kind German lady who looks after them every day.
We wander around and then head up what we have called “Cat Mountain” due to the number of cats on it. We watch some boats come in as we used to when we came here on holiday by car, this time we won’t be going back to a hire car, but to our own lovely boat right here in the harbour.
The Jack the cat’s boat from our previous stop, Port Vendres, are here today as well.
Monday 4th August 2003 Llanca Day 2
Today will be a day of jobs. We need to do the laundry, phone people and use the Internet, if we can find some. We do find a great Internet café and manage to get all our flights booked for jobs back in the UK and to Tenerife to check on our flat.
A productive day today. Tomorrow we will anchor somewhere.
We have a delicious Spanish stew on board just as the sun is going down, the sky is red-tinted, and the water is like glass, reflecting the shore lights. It’s so beautiful.
Tuesday 5th August 2003 Llanca anchorage 0 euros
We head towards Port De Selva this morning. We want to drop anchor and have lunch there.
It looks like another pretty bay on the Costa Brava with a little town. We ‘drop the hook‘ and stop for an hour. After a good lunch, we motor back the 3 miles towards Llanca and pick our anchoring spot for the night.
After repositioning, we settle, and H tries out her new flippers, mask and snorkel. It’s great, she can see the sandy bottom much more clearly now without the mask filling up with water.
Okay, so it’s not the best diving spot, but she gets a good look at the boat keel and the prop once she gets her confidence up.
At 6:30pm, we jump in the dinghy, leaving Stargazer at anchor to go to the hairdressers. At last, a haircut after three months. Feeling more presentable, we have a dinner of pork and mushrooms in the twilight on the back of the boat. Del needs to check his email later, so H will taxi him ashore in the dinghy.
Wednesday 6th August 2003 Llanca to Empuriabrava, 22NM, 39 euros.
The sea is like a mirror today, and there is no wind, so it looks like a long day on the motor as we go around Cabo Creus. There are lots of boats out today, even though it’s midweek. This coast of Spain seems busier than the Riviera (and more expensive).
As we go around the last corner of the headland, I can see the tower of the Empuriabrava marina. It’s strange seeing from this angle, as we enter the marina wall, people are sitting watching us just like we used to when we came here on holiday.
The entrance is busy, lots of boats nose to tail, but it’s even worse in the basin where we have to pull up at the fuel pontoon. We need to turn around, and boats are coming from all directions. It’s quite windy, and the depth log now shows 0.0 at the pontoon. We have to hover to wait for someone to move with only one foot clearance behind us and little in front. This is a mad place.
Boats are just inches away from each other in some cases. Finally, we get allocated a berth and managed to get parked. It’s mooring poles again, but we now know how to handle these. They are quite easy.
We set out for a walk and get some provisions. We repair the lifejacket that was set off the other day. We have decided tonight to revisit the El Moli hotel in a town called San Pere Pescador. We miss it, it was a regular place for our summer holidays. We shall go for dinner, the food there is excellent.
We get a cab there and walk through the town. Nothing much has changed here at all. We then walk onto El Moli. The owners, Elena and Engracia, her mum and her father, Lleando, are surprised to see us. We feast on a delicious fideua. Nobody does it better than here. We have a few drinks on the terrace and a chat with Elena, where we tell her about our new life on a boat. She very kindly drives us back and comes aboard for a look around the boat. It’s half one in the morning when we finally turn into bed.
Miles travelled so far: 749 nautical miles.
Thursday 7th August 2003, Empuriabrava to Palamos, 27NM, 49 euros.
We both feel a little hungover today, maybe it was the beer, half a bottle of wine, brandy, local wine from roses and then the Pacheran (a Spanish liqueur). We are not drinking again!
It’s the same weather as yesterday, so we will be on the motor again. Trips on the motor can be a little dull, with the constant noise of the engine and no ropes or sails to play with.
There are loads of boats out again. Why is this coast not more famous as a cruising area? We motor past L’escala and the Illes Medes. We carry on past Aiguablava and Llafranc and into Palamos. Good, it’s a finger pontoon so parking is relatively easy. Del has been to visit the office, and we have found that the cost to stay here tonight is a whopping €49, a new record, and this place is hardly Monaco. We have a view of cement hoppers and can’t see the town, and to top that, they can’t help us with a water adapter for their unusual connector. We consider leaving, but we can’t get a definite answer from any of the nearby marinas as to whether or not they have space, so we stay, fingers crossed the weather stays okay so we can escape tomorrow…
Friday 8th August 2003, Palamos to Blanes, 19NM, 30 euros.
There is no wind this morning; it’s very still as we leave Palamos, the most expensive marina on the trip so far, at 9:30, so we have to motor again at 5.5 kn. It’s not too far today.
Whilst on our way, pottering along, we see a boat going the same way with a red dinghy at the back, similar to the boat in Port Vendres.
Could this be “Jack the cat’s boat“? We investigate with our binoculars; it is them, and we can see them looking at us with their binoculars, so we all wave at the same time to each other. We get a bit closer to them and find out that they are heading to Blanes as well.
By coincidence, they have the same cockpit cushions, and bought them from the same boat jumble sale at junction 17 of the M6! We tell them we will see them in Blanes, they put their sails up and start the long slog tacking in the slight breeze while we just motor straight there.
We get a space. Del sees ‘Jack the cat’s boat’ come into the marina, but they turn around and leave, probably because there is no space. We will catch up with them again somewhere, no doubt. We have photographs that we have taken of each other while at sea, so hopefully we can exchange these and get a fuss of their cat!
We dine tonight on sepia (cuttlefish) and chicken. Blanes is quite nice. It looks bigger than Lloret from the sea, but it’s quite civilised once you are here. It’s a lot bigger than H remembers it from 20 years ago when she was here nearby on a holiday with her parents.
Saturday 9th August 2003, Blanes to Port Olympic Barcelona, 34NM, 27.50 euros.
We are up and about early this morning, around 8am, and there is still some breeze, which we take advantage of until the sun warms up the air and the breeze subsides, then it’s back on with the motor all the way until Barcelona.
The coast here is pretty with long sandy beaches, a contrast to the cliffs of the Costa Brava further north from where we are now. The Costa Dorada starts just outside Blanes.
Port Olympic has a space for us, and they are quite friendly. The marina is nice and secure.
Tonight we will have steak and pasta, we have a night in, and there is plenty of time to explore Barcelona. It’s quite noisy here as the marina is surrounded by nightclubs, which are still going on, loudly, until 5 am!
Sunday 10th August 2003, Port Olympic Barcelona. Day 2
Today we are expecting Ian and Paula, good friends of ours from the UK and our first guests from home, so we are spending the morning sprucing up the boat, getting her really smart for their arrival.
They are with us around midday, so we show them around, which doesn’t take long; then we have a welcome drink followed by a spot of lunch. It’s very hot today.
Ian’s itching for a sail, but before we go out, we get the dinghy down, and we all take turns and have a potter around the marina.
After securing the dinghy onto the pontoon, we set out to sea where we get full sails up and manage a good 6 knots at one point. After a good hour, we head back into the marina and get berthed up again.
We have acquired new neighbours while we have been out. They’re British, and they kindly offer us all a glass of cava so we spend some time with them chatting. How nice and friendly is that. Boating can be like that, you can say ‘hello‘ to someone in a marina or on a boat, and the next thing you are sharing life stories and on and off each other’s boats. Fabulous.
Tonight we will go into the centre of Barcelona. We find a rather good restaurant where Ian and Paul treat us to a lovely dinner. How very kind, a big thank you to them…!
It’s a bit of a long walk back to the marina; we are all worn out. Ian and Paula have been up since 4 am this morning to get here, so we hit the sack…!
Monday 11th August 2003, Port Olympic Barcelona. Day 3
We want to get to the shops today, but we are not so quick this morning, as by the time we leave and stop faffing about, it’s 12 o’clock.
On the way out to the shops, we see the biggest, most disgusting jellyfish H has ever seen in the marina basin. It’s about 2 feet long and 8 inches across, yuk. Ian and Paula seem quite interested. H won’t go near it.
Shopping done and put away, we set off to visit the Sagrada Familia in the afternoon. Yes, they are still building it; the cathedral is covered in nets. We have a good walk about the city. It’s very hot again, though.
We get back to the boat at around six for needed cold showers. We shall have dinner on board tonight. Pasta and salad. We stay up drinking until we’ve had enough, which is around 11:30pm. What a bunch of lightweights.
We are leaving our bikes chained up here against a lamppost for a month. We find that they are getting in the way a little, so we want to see what life on the boat would be like without them. We shall pick them up again in September if they are still here, that is…?
Tuesday 12th August 2003, Port Olympic to Masnou 5NM, 27 euros.
The weather is good today, and the sea is like a lake, so we set off for Masnou, which is a small town just north of where we are in Barcelona. To H’s horror, there are lots of ugly jellyfish hanging around the beach.
We anchor just outside Masnou for a spot of lunch and a swim. The water is freezing, and H is persuaded to go in despite the jellyfish sightings just 3 miles away.
Let’s hope they can’t swim fast… Paula and H exhaust themselves trying to mount an inflatable jet ski, well, why not…? Paula ends up swallowing too much sea water which leaves her feeling a bit… well, yuk! So we pull up the anchor and go into Masnou marina.
As we motor in, we see four seaplanes out at sea diving down and picking up water quite close. The area is having a lot of fires inland, which is no surprise. It’s so hot..
Masnou is not bad, but a long walk from everywhere remotely interesting. Tonight we have a steak dinner and drinks… Again…
Wednesday 13th August 2003, Masnou to Arenys de Mar 12.5NM, 27 euros
Our guests have been with us for 4 days, it’s been great having them, and the boat is busy with 4 of us in a 10m boat! We’ve been told by the locals how good the town of Arenys de Mar is. It’s north of here, not very far and it has a swimming pool!
We all get ready and set off north for Arenys. The sea is flat again, but eventually we do get some wind and manage to get nearly 7 knots of speed near the marina.
We see a familiar face and a boat on the pontoon. It’s the lady from “Jack’s boat“; her name is Karen. They’ve been here for a while. We are introduced to her husband, Paul, and they have their son temporarily with them. The marina does look very nice. There’s a swimming pool right next to us, free Internet and free laundry. It doesn’t get better than this!
After, the four of us pop into the town and do some shopping, we have a dip in the pool. It’s a perfect temperature, fantastic. All six of us are now in the pool having a good chat until we turn wrinkly. Karen and Paul recommend a local restaurant, so we may try that out later.
While relaxing in the sun after the swim. Karen appears with Jack the cat in her arms. She’s brought him over to see us because she knows we are pretty daft about cats.
They stay for a good hour, and Jack sits on H’s knee and gives her little cat nose bumps. He’s very cute…
Dinner is a delicious seafood paella. H and Paula feed the stray moggies around the marina.
Thursday 14th August 2003, Arenys de Mar – Day 2
We all have a lie-in this morning as we’re not going anywhere today, so we have a relaxed breakfast and then stay by the pool reading. Life carries on with a boat, visitors or not, so after lunch, we use the laundry. Later, while we are chilling out by the pool, we see another Bavaria Yacht coming in.
When we were getting our boat delivered and commissioned in Port Napoleon back in May, we met a couple there, Dave and Norma, who had just taken delivery of their boat at roughly the same time. The boat’s name was Quintet, and amazingly, it’s them pulling in here today…!
We pop over to say hello, later they come to us for a quick drink, then it’s back over to theirs for another drink. There are now six of us on the back of Quintet. Their Bavaria 38 is beautiful and huge. Del wants one already.
They seem to be having a struggle with Opal Marine, the agent, over faults. We have a few niggling faults, but they have no fridge working!!! That won’t do at all.
Del and Ian set off to the shops, as Paula and I have to sort out the laundry from earlier on, but what the lads don’t know is that we sneak off for a quick swim and run back to the boat when we see them coming back, pretending that we had been grafting hard all the time.
We eat in tonight, and afterwards the boys start hitting the Gin, they demolish 2/3 of a litre between them with beers and wine.
We watch the Royle Family outside in the cockpit when we are joined by Dave and Norma from Quintet, carrying more beers. Now there are six of us on the back of our boat!
We finally retire at 1:30 am after Del, half cut of course, walks about the boat naked, giving Ian and Paula a right eyeful!!! It was a good fun night in all.
Friday 15th August 2003, Arenys de Mar to Masnou – 12.5 NM, 27 euros
Del and Ian are the worse for wear this morning, especially Del, but we all know why. After saying our farewells to our newfound friends, Dave and Norma on “Quintet” and Paul and Karen on “Antigua Lady” we slip our berth from Arenys, having had six hours of sleep. Ian and Del are flaked out below decks, leaving Paula and H to helm us out of the marina and on to Masnou, 12 nautical miles south.
The two hungover louts get woken up 1 mile from Masnou marina.
We are all up on deck for the arrival and get securely berthed and settled. The boat is staying here for a month, both in the water and on dry land, so we have been given a berth on the residents pontoon. Del and H are returning to the UK to visit parents and Colin the cat and then on to Tenerife to check on the flat. We have been away for 3 months.
Del is still feeling a bit yuk, so he goes back to bed while the rest of us have lunch on deck, followed by a nap. By 5pm, everyone is up and about and feeling more refreshed, so we set out for a walk. It’s so hot in the marina!
Dinner tonight is takeout pizza and Chinese, and an odd mix of Italian and Chinese. A very strange combination. It’s Ian and Paula’s last night tonight, so we are not staying up all night again. We are up at 7:30am tomorrow to take them to the station for their trip back home. It’s been really good having them here.
Saturday 16th August 2003, Masnou – Day 2
After a good breakfast on the back of ‘Stargazer‘, we get Ian and Paul to the station and say goodbye. It has been really nice having them. They have seen first-hand how we live and joined us in meeting new sailing friends along the way. A very nice few days.
Then it’s back to the marina to finish off some laundry and see if we can get some dry storage; no luck today with that.
It’s been a bank holiday here, so it’s a “puente” day or a bridge day, – more days off after the bank holiday. We go to get some provisions.
When we return, we find that someone has pulled our water cap off its chain and nicked it! On the back of the boat, there are two metal caps, one on each side; one is for the diesel tank, the other for the fresh water tank. The boat was on a pontoon waterside, so someone who needed one saw ours, unscrewed it, yanked it real hard to get it off the securing chain and made off with it. We just can’t believe it. We are furious, so we botch a cap with a wooden bung. We have a collection of different-sized bungs that are in our kit of parts, just in case we get a leak… the chandlers here are shut all month, so we won’t be able to get a replacement!
Well, at least the restaurants are open, so we treat ourselves to the most delicious paella ever at a rather nice restaurant. A very nice night, despite getting our water cap nicked…
Del is leaving tomorrow for the UK to do some work. H will join him on the 23rd.
Sunday 17th August 2003, Masnou – Day 3
The weather here has been quite hot and muggy. Last night we had a little bit of rain, the sky this morning is quite spectacular, but it’s brewing for a storm. There are black clouds all around us. When it hits, it’s quite a relief, half an hour of heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightning, very Spanish.
It eventually clears up for us to walk to the station. Del is flying to England today, and H is coming with him to the airport. The train turns up on time but takes an hour, weaving through the slums on the outskirts of Barcelona. The airport is packed, it’s a Spanish bank holiday weekend, so we have a quick lunch together and say goodbye as it’s nearly Del’s boarding time.
Oh dear, little did he know that he would still be there three hours later after H left due to massive delays…
Back at the boat in Masnou, I have a big sleep. I was bitten all over last night by mozzies and kept awake. Dinner is pasta, I watch a film, then bed. I spent 40 minutes chasing a mosquito in the bedroom just in time for the disco to start up at 4 am..! Grrrrr….
Monday 18th August 2003, Masnou – Day 4
I get up late after a bad night’s sleep. After breakfast, I sort out our boat insurance, ready for the lift out. Stargazer will be on hard standing for a month while we are both in the UK and Tenerife. There is a lot to do today, but first I go for a walk on the mole, followed by a good walk of about a mile to the supermarket for provisions and buy, in my best Spanish, a mosquito repellent.
Still tired from no sleep last night, so I nap some more and do some reading. After lunch, I start the handwashing of the sheets… There is no laundry here at this marina. Washing double sheets in our small boat wetroom sink is as hard as it sounds, very difficult. I still have four more to do and three towels. Best get on with it.
Dinner is Spanish stew. Very tasty.
Tuesday 19th August 2003, Masnou – Day 5
A very lazy morning, more hand washing. Does it ever end? There is a large swimming pool here at the marina, so after lunch I go and check it out. It’s fabulous, very big, clean and with a view of the beach. After a few lengths, I’m worn out, so I head off for a nice cold shower.
Dinner is Spanish stew, again. I miss Del, who is in Aberdeen doing a show for the oil exploration company Cooper Cameron. Sounds great…? Not…
Wednesday 20th August 2003, Masnou – Day 6
I’ve been on my own now for a few days, and I’m getting through books at a fast rate.
It’s 4 pm, so I wander up to the pool and have a refreshing swim. It’s so hot here.
Chinese for dinner tonight, there’s no more Spanish stew left. Bed early.
Thursday 21st August 2003, Masnou – Day 7
Tomorrow, the boat is being lifted out of the water and put into hard standing until mid-September. There are still a few more jobs to do, more washing and some packing to be done and the boat prepared for the lift out at about 10am tomorrow. Best get on…
Friday 22nd August 2003, Masnou – Day 8 (Last day!)
I’m hoping that we will be lifted out today at around 10-ish. We have been in Masnou now for 8 days… I’m glad to be leaving now but I will be doing this all on my own. At 9:30, I slip from the pontoon and gently motor to the other end of the marina to the crane lift and hope that someone will be there to catch my lines in for me, and that they will also understand my dodgy Spanish.
If all goes well, I will hopefully be departing for Barcelona around midday to check into a hotel in the Plaza España. The lift all goes as planned. There is someone there to help me get tied up, and they do indeed understand my dodgy Spanish.
Excellent. It’s strange seeing our home being lifted out of the water and then placed on wooden stilts where she will stay for a month. I’ll miss her, she has been a good home these past few months.
All done. Now it’s off to Barcelona, where I walk around for a couple of miles, lost, and with heavy bags too. I’ve had it now, though; it’s no good, so I end up having to buy a map to find the hotel, which I finally find and get settled in.
Tomorrow I fly to Liverpool.
Meanwhile, up in Aberdeen, Del is having a great time. Very interesting… Don’t ask…
Remember that in 2003, Google Maps was not a “thing”; in fact, the only navigation around then was in a car. Tom Tom and Garmin provided all that. The smartphone didn’t really get going until 2004 when the Apple iPhone came on the scene. So you had to rely on common sense and paper maps… Those were the days!
Many of our daily entries have no photographs. Taking a picture for a blog back in 2003 was an event. ‘Blogging’ hadn’t been heard of then either. You had to have a digital camera that you kept charged. You also had to have a computer to transfer the pictures from the camera. The only way to share pictures back then was by email. There were no messaging platforms, only SMS and MMS for pictures, and because we were in Spain, sending an MMS cost a fortune! It’s all so very easy today.
Our boat life picks up again on September 16th 2003. See the next post.
Welcome back, we get to spend summer with you, see you soon xx